Economic Cost of a Referendum

National Referendum how much does it cost?

Although I have
attempted to find information (on the Internet) about how much it costs to
fund a referendum in the UK I have not been able to find how much either
now or in the past a national referendum costs.

I have also tried to
find out how much it costs to fund a general election as well, as I would
have thought that, that information would be easier to find. However I had
no success with that Internet search either.

What I did find is an
article in an online newspaper about a parish council at xxxx who have had
to fund a village based referendum on the EU this cost approximately
£3,000. On this basis if all 10,000 parish councils had a similar
referendum the costs would be £30,000,000 thirty million pounds! The
inclusion of other authorities, e.g. town and city and municipal
authorities would inflate the cost to how much? A hundred times more? In
which case the cost would be £3,000,000,000. Three billion pounds would be
required for the government to give its consent to a referendum.

I can well understand
why any government would be most unwilling to cite costs in denying
requests to hold referendums, but surely it cannot be denied that the
costs do need to be considered by those who would ask for a national
referendum. After all it is the public's money that would have to be
spent. Perhaps this issue is an opportunity for all political parties to
come to a consensus.

A general election is of
course an entirely different matter, as these are essential in a
democratic country.

When I have received the
information I will publish this letter on
www.lettertothepm.co.uk
together with the facts. In which case, in future, anyone who wonders how
much a referendum costs will have a better idea, and will be able to weigh
up whether it is really that important to spend that sum of money that
could be better spent on health, Education, Defence,. . ..

Yours Sincerely

A. Citizen

The Prime
Minister's office asked the Ministry of Justice to reply to my letter. I
have received a reply below

Thank you for your letter of 28 February, addressed to the Prime
Minister, in which you request for information about the cost of a
national referendum. Your letter has been passed to the Ministry of
Justice for a reply as we have responsibility for the generic policy and
the legislative framework for national and regional referendums.

The Department has not made a detailed estimate of the costs of a
national referendum. As a guide, we might expect the cost of running a
UK-wide referendum to be similar to the cost of a general election. The
general election in 2005 cost in excess of £80m. This information was set
out in the Department's response to a parliamentary question from Dai
Davies MP which was answered on 31 January 2008.

The generic framework for the conduct of referendums in the UK,
Scotland, Wales, England or Northern Ireland, is provided by the Political
Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Under the Act, the Electoral
Commission is responsible for the conduct of referendums, including
estimation of the costs.

The Act provides that the Chairman of the Electoral Commission is the
Chief Counting Officer for any referendum held under the Act. The Chief
Counting Officer is required to appoint a counting officer for each
relevant local government area in Great Britain. In effect, the Electoral
Commission is responsible for the running of a referendum.

In addition to the costs of conducting a referendum, the Electoral
Commission would incur its own additional costs. These costs would be
reflected in the Electoral Commission's estimate of its income and
expenditure, which it is required to submit to Speaker's Committee
annually. If approved, the money comes directly from HM Treasury to the
Commission.

The Commission currently estimates that these costs would depend on the
level of public information activity required, but would likely be in the
range of £10-30m.

I hope this information is of some assistance.

Nnenna Orji

The editor has added bold to emphasize the costs of
a referendum, which is considerably less than the calculation in the
letter to the PM which overestimated the cost - which apparently does not
increase in a linear manner. It is still a lot of money though and there
is also the rationale as to whether it is wise to hold national
referendums.

I have asked a local teacher
that I know who has several degrees including an MPhil and vocational
certificates how he felt about referendums. He is of the opinion that we
elect our government by a national election to make decisions on our
behalf. Members of Parliament have the benefit of the team
of civil servants and access to expertise that should provide a well
informed basis for making the important decisions that affect us all.

Furthermore, he also mentioned the power of the
media: newspapers, television and the Internet which also provides
an analysis of the crucial issues that require the best decisions to be
made. He mentioned that we also have the House of Lords which
provides a stable body of experienced people who make a significant
contribution to the work of the House of Commons.

He felt that he would, personally, feel uneasy
about voting in a referendum as he doesn't have sufficient knowledge to
make a wise decision and that he like others, would be dependent on the
media, which in the case of the newspapers have considerable power which
is to some extent in the hands of a few individuals.